The following quote describes what propelled me to move forward and complete this difficult journey:

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.”-August Wilson

For years I’ve kept an untold story inside me for fear of confronting my own dark parts – where the truth of a hushed secret was denied. Finally, about four years ago, I started the process of acknowledging and wrestling with these dark parts. I knew that if I didn’t bring them to light and forgive myself and others, I would never be whole and complete.

The product of this journey is a memoir which tells my story of being an incest survivor struggling to find my voice and believe in myself. I started with self-doubt and, through this writing process, experienced internal validation, found my voice and was able to speak my truth.

One out of every three-to-four girls are sexually abused. Most of them are conditioned to forget it, normalize it, or to doubt that it even occurred. My story reveals a personal journey of how families and society actively deny girls and women their voice and invalidate their reality. It parallels stories of marginalized individuals and groups whose truth is denied by society and others, often even themselves.

3 Comments

Peter
on July 10, 2017 at 8:59 pm

Kudos to you for your unwavering pursuit of self. You were and are a colleague of depth and distinction.

Michael Hill
on July 12, 2017 at 11:07 am

Deb, thank you for your usual wise and compassionate words. I look forward to reading your book, which no doubt will have those same qualities. And although it has been a while, you remain in my heart. I admire you, respect you and love you, dear friend.